Monday, April 30, 2012

Erosion of Internet Privacy Protection

The US House of Representatives, in opposition of President Obama's objections, has approved on Thursday the Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act (CISPA).

The law encourages intelligence agencies and businesses to share information about threats to computer systems, including attacks on American websites by hackers in China and other countries, such as Russia.

The vote was 248 to 168, as 42 Democrats joined 206 Republicans in backing the bill. The "no" votes were defended by 140 Democrats and 28 Republicans.

After more than five hours of debate, Mike Rogers, Republican Representative, said: "this is the last bastion of things we need to do to protect this country."

Some members of both parties also expressed their opinion against the law. Bennie Thompson, Democrat of Mississippi, said: "in an effort to foster information sharing, this bill would erode the privacy protections of every single American using the Internet."

The White House, strongly opposed this measure that now moves to the Senate, saying it could "undermine the public's trust in the government as well as in the Internet by undermining fundamental privacy, confidentiality, civil liberties and consumer protections."

Different organisations and activist have already creating platforms against CISPA, such Electronic Frontiers Foundation (EFF). Its Activism Director, Rainey Reitman, said on the website: "we will not stand idly by as the basic freedoms to read and speak online without the shadows of government surveillance are endangered by such overbroad legislative proposals."